First, I have to say that my wife Debbie and I were raised out in the country. We now live in the same area where we grew
up, in Southwest Louisiana. Although we didn’t meet until our late teens, we shared many of the same experiences country
kids share in growing up. The briar patches dividing the piney woods from the creek bottoms provided rabbits in the
winter and blackberries in the summer. The creek banks where one might cast a line for bass, was also a good place to pick
huckleberries. Vines you shook in October to get a squirrel to move had rained down muscadines in July. We each
knew more than one good pin oak flat or "bay-gall" where mayhaws could be had for the taking in late April.
After we married, we eventually bought 20 acres of land in Singer, Louisiana and built our present home. The property
contains an old pecan orchard of about 30 huge trees. Loving fruit trees of all kinds, we planted several types of citrus,
figs, mulberries, blueberries, blackberries, persimmons, pears, apples…you get the idea. We even planted loquats, pineapple
guavas, pomegranates, jujubes, goumi berry….and mayhaws.
After learning to graft fruit trees, I "top-worked" about 140 mayhaw trees we pulled from the wild for rootstock. I used scion wood of
named varieties which had been found to be exceptional. After several years, I began to learn from Mr. Billy Craft of Woodworth
La. about cross pollination to develop new, hopefully even better trees. This process takes several years with each experiment.
Many crosses are being made with Maxine, the fantastic mayhaw found by James Eaves near DeRidder La. Some are already
proving themselves like the new Red Champ variety. My wife Deb and I continue to toil in the soil -and love every minute of it.
Click her to edit.
up, in Southwest Louisiana. Although we didn’t meet until our late teens, we shared many of the same experiences country
kids share in growing up. The briar patches dividing the piney woods from the creek bottoms provided rabbits in the
winter and blackberries in the summer. The creek banks where one might cast a line for bass, was also a good place to pick
huckleberries. Vines you shook in October to get a squirrel to move had rained down muscadines in July. We each
knew more than one good pin oak flat or "bay-gall" where mayhaws could be had for the taking in late April.
After we married, we eventually bought 20 acres of land in Singer, Louisiana and built our present home. The property
contains an old pecan orchard of about 30 huge trees. Loving fruit trees of all kinds, we planted several types of citrus,
figs, mulberries, blueberries, blackberries, persimmons, pears, apples…you get the idea. We even planted loquats, pineapple
guavas, pomegranates, jujubes, goumi berry….and mayhaws.
After learning to graft fruit trees, I "top-worked" about 140 mayhaw trees we pulled from the wild for rootstock. I used scion wood of
named varieties which had been found to be exceptional. After several years, I began to learn from Mr. Billy Craft of Woodworth
La. about cross pollination to develop new, hopefully even better trees. This process takes several years with each experiment.
Many crosses are being made with Maxine, the fantastic mayhaw found by James Eaves near DeRidder La. Some are already
proving themselves like the new Red Champ variety. My wife Deb and I continue to toil in the soil -and love every minute of it.
Click her to edit.
